Uprooting
by MyShipsinStormySeas
Summary: 5 time Pepper and Tony moved house, and one time they stayed right where they were. For Pepperony Week 2019 Day 1: 5 1 times fic. Also posted on A03.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! College got in the way of writing, but I'm back! I meant to post this yesterday for the first day of Pepperony Week, but... it kinda got away from me and turned into quite a long work. Oh well, I enjoyed writing it and hopefully someone will enjoy reading it, even if it is a bit late. Have fun!

So WARNINGS: There are themes and issues of alcoholism, mental health/mental illness, and a few swear words throughout this work. If you think this could be triggering to you please stop reading now.

**Chapter 1: Malibu**

The first time, while it is Tony who needs to move, Pepper is the one to make it happen.

She'd been working for Tony barely three months. It was 2001, and, until Pepper came along, Tony had practically given up any development in R&D, let alone official CEO duties, preferring to get drunk out of his mind for three months straight.

That way, he couldn't think about the ten-year anniversary that was approaching. Ten years since he turned twenty-one. Ten years since he inherited the company. Ten years since his parents drove out on a cold December night, and never came back.

Yeah, being this drunk was waaaay better. Who cares if he got drunk enough to mess up some basic math and almost cost his company a billion dollars? He could afford it.

As for who cares, it turned out Virginia Potts, junior accountant at Stark Industries, did.

After an overheard shrill argument with his bodyguard, a defiantly waved bottle of pepper spray, and a stack of papers shoved in front of his face, Tony found a personal assistant.

He simultaneously found a reason to be sober—well, somewhat sober—much more of the time.

Then, December came around.

Pepper walked into 890 Fifth Avenue, New York City, otherwise known as Tony Stark's home address.

She could feel the back of her neck tighten with stress while her shoulders slumped at the sight of the empty liquor bottles scattered practically everywhere.

She'd thought they'd really made progress, some sort of rapport; a kind of give-and-take working relationship by this point.

But since December 1st, Tony had completely shut her out. He'd ignored any meetings, not developed any new inventions, and not even stayed in the same place long enough for her to complain about it to him.

Obadiah was criticizing her night and day, asking where Tony was, asking why she couldn't even do the most basic facets of her job, and pressuring her to quit.

Naturally, at first she'd been furious, but at this point… maybe she should quit, like everyone's been telling her to all along.

She's only twenty-two, and she in over her head.

Maybe someone one else would have better luck getting through to him.

He's slumped on a white-cushioned couch with a brown wooden frame, trying to drink a bottle of scotch but apparently struggling to bring it up to his face.

After a second's delay, he looked up with an almost feral grin, "Pepp…er. Pep. Peps. Pepster. Pepper-y Pepper. What are you doing here? Haven't you quit already?"

Pepper merely crossed her arms and looked at him quietly, "Not quite yet Mr. Stark."

Tony put the bottle down and instead appeared to be wholly engrossed in sounding out her name in the unnatural silence of the Manhattan mansion.

"Peeeeeppeerrrrr. Pepper Potts. Pooooott-t-t-sssss."

Pepper didn't say anything.

"You should quit, you know," he said.

Pepper wasn't sure what to say, so she still said nothing.

"Everyone leaves eventually, and they're better off for it. I bet my parents are better off, wherever they are. Can't see the fuck up their son is making of the company. My dad probably wouldn't be surprised, actually. Mom might be sad though. Just a little."

Pepper sighed, took the bottle of scotch out of his hands, lifted it to her mouth, and took three large gulps.

Frustrated, she banged it down on the side table, "You're parents would be proud of you, Tony Stark. I don't care what you think. You've done amazing things for this company, raised it to international status, brought the technology to levels other people couldn't even dream of! It's just the past month that's been, well…"

She sighed and sat down on the small part of the couch left open. She put her face in her hands.

"I don't want to leave, Tony. I don't think I'd be better for it. But maybe you'd be better off with someone who, I don't know, has more experience? I'm obviously no good for this position. Everything's falling apart, and I'm clearly not able to do the job you need."

Tony looked at her, gaped, closed his mouth, and then attempted to sit up to look her in the face.

He then continued to open and close his mouth like a goldfish, and the outrage on his face was almost comical.

It also appeared her words had actually sobered him up a little.

He struggled to get the words out, but eventually, he spoke, "Pepper, do you have any idea how long any PA has lasted before you?"

Pepper didn't see how that had to do with anything, but shook her head, and took another sip of the scotch.

"Three days."

Pepper turned to look at him, shocked, but then thought about it, and decided she wasn't surprised after all. Tony continued, not giving her a chance to say anything.

"Three days. You've worked for me three months. That should, like, go in the Guinness Book of Records or something. You're the best PA anyone could wish for, honestly. You're so efficient, it's scary."

Pepper felt a blush tint her cheeks, and found herself once more lost for words.

Tony tried to get up, but immediately fell down on the couch again clutching his head.

"Not… not a good idea. Just gonna… staying right here for a minute."

Pepper waited.

Tony groaned, "It's just… damn… Pepper I can't take this. You know this was the last room I saw them both alive? They're everywhere I look. They're in the company, in the media, in every corner of this, this… house."

He spat out the last word like a curse and clenched his fists.

"I just… I want to be free of Howard's shadow for just one damn minute and I can't… it's never…"

He stopped, unable to find the words, and gestured helplessly.

Pepper, on the other hand, finally knew what to say.

"Then move," she said.

Tony looked at her uncomprehendingly, "Move… like… off the couch?"

Pepper shook her head, feeling her confidence coming back, and an almost childish grin appearing on her face, "No. Move house. Get out of here. Move out from under your father's shadow. The company has offices all over the country. It can be based wherever you want it to be."

Tony looked at her with such an aghast look on his face that Pepper laughed outright.

"But, but… Stark Industries has always been based in New York! And Starks have lived in this house since… well…"

Pepper stood up, tucking her hair behind her ears and internally blaming the scotch for the almost giddy feeling that she felt running through her.

"It's your company. And since when have you ever respected tradition? Where do you want to go?"

Tony looked at her as if trying to figure out where this smiling, spontaneous person in front of him had come from.

He stuttered, "Well, I mean, I've always liked the West Coast… California's always a good time…"

Pepper nodded slowly, thinking it through, "Not to mention the tech scene's really beginning to pick up over there."

Tony smirked, "And there's plenty of other scenes to be seen. You know what they say about California girls and the beach…."

Pepper stifled a groan, "I'm sure there's nothing of that you haven't seen already on the East Coast Mr. Stark."

Tony waggled his eyebrows, "Shocking Miss Potts. I'm talking about the ocean scenic views, of course."

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Of course."

She grabbed her Blackberry out of her bag and began typing notes, a faraway look in her eyes, "The West Coast has some beautiful beaches though, not to mention the resources in both San Francisco and L.A…"

Tony grinned, "Well, Miss Potts, it appears I have a new job for my personal assistant. Think you're up for the job?"

Pepper smiled, feeling their usual banter and relationship snapping back into place, "Not a problem Mr. Stark. Will that be all?"

Tony grinned even wider, "That'll be all, Miss Potts."

Not long after, Tony approached her with plans for the construction of a Malibu house, with the outer walls made entirely from high-tech glass, "For the full appreciation of those ocean scenic views, Miss Potts."

Miss Virginia "Pepper" Potts, P.A. extraordinaire, was back on the job.

And if it brought her and Tony a little distance from a certain Obadiah Stane in the New York offices while pissing him off at the same time…

Well, hey. That was just an added bonus.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: #1 Fan**

This time, it is Pepper who is moving. They both agree it is Tony's fault. Whether that's a positive or a negative addendum, depends on the speaker.

Until that time, Pepper had determinedly kept her apartment in Santa Monica for her entire time in California.

Serenely, she ignored Tony's requests/borderline demands that she move somewhere closer. Apparently, her living situation was a drastic problem in dire need of an immediate fix. After all, in Santa Monica, how could she be available for his every beck and call as soon as possible, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Wasn't that what a personal assistant was for?

Pepper usually responded with a roll of her eyes and a: "Understood, sir. Clearly, fourteen-year-old you was much too young when they stopped hiring an in-house nanny." She'd assure him of her intent to hire a nanny—no a male one Tony—right away.

The thought of a male nanny in his space usually horrified Tony enough to be distracted by something else, and so, Pepper kept her apartment.

However, Tony's latest wild behavior in Italy has run her completely ragged.

She should quit. She knows she should quit. She just… won't… for some reason. She doesn't want to think about it too hard.

But she could at least shorten her commute.

On the other hand, after working for Tony for about two years, Pepper's gotten to know and expect Tony's eccentricities quite well.

That means she shouldn't have been surprised when Tony sticks his nose into a personal matter that doesn't concern him. Like her choice of a shorter commute.

* * *

"Miss Potts," he says one morning, right after she firmly and not particularly sympathetically pointed a sobbing model to the door in her dry-cleaned, extremely short cocktail dress, "a development in the company has come to my attention."

Pepper raises an eyebrow. Tony is voluntarily opting to talk about business. That's never a good sign.

She barely stifles a groan and an urge to pinch the bridge of her nose, "What did you do now, Mr. Stark?"

Tony looks affronted while hiding a grin in the twinkling of his eyes, "I object to your accusation, Miss Potts! I've been a shining example of the perfect boss and CEO."

Pepper raises both eyebrows, crosses her arms, and thinks of how the stock recently dropped 5 points.

This was due to an unfortunate combination of her boss, a Maserati, five bottles of Tequila, two models from Playboy magazine, and a 1000-year-old fountain in Rome.

"Is that so, Mr. Stark? Not making more work for your PA, I'm sure, nor the PR department, nor Mr. Stane…"

Tony clears his throat, "Ahem, that is… I have been the perfect CEO for, well, today, or at least, for the past hour… I mean, I've been working on updates for Dummy to see if I could ever make him any less of a klutz, not that that's gonna happen anytime soon…"

Pepper takes pity on him, "You mentioned a company development, Mr. Stark?"

That gleam comes back into his eyes, "Ah yes, Miss Potts. I think I may need to file a restraining order."

Pepper's eyes widen in actual alarm, picking up her clipboard and blackberry in one fell swoop, "Tony! Why didn't you say anything earlier? Who is it? Is it Janie Blanch again? I don't care that you want to sleep with her cousin! I'm fairly certain she's clinically insane—"

Tony interrupts her, while simultaneously turning to mess with some schematics on the interface in front of him, "Nope completely different woman. Rather an obsessed fan I'd say."

Pepper becomes more distressed; how could she have missed this? She remains oblivious, while Tony ceases hiding his grin.

"She's been looking at apartments close to the mansion, apparently needing to be closer to me 24/7."

Pepper stops.

She can feel embarrassment bubble into rage, bringing heat to her reddening cheeks.

Oh that was it! 'He'd better not be talking about…

Mr. Stark's grin took on an absolutely wicked turn, "She's my PA, actually. What do you think Pepper? Do you think her actions warrant legal action?"

He finished off with undisguised glee, "Then again, I'd be willing to drop any charges if she agrees that I was totally right the whole time!"

Slowly, purposefully, Pepper takes a breath.

Whipping around, her heels click out her fury with each step. Pepper makes her way to the door.

"You have a meeting at 2 pm, you have a session with R&D at 5, and if you ever scare me like that again, I will convince Jarvis that locking you out of your liquor cabinet for one month is imperative to your well-being. He likes me better anyway."

Tony, not one to be cowed, responds, "You know, I feel I should be invited to inspect the new place, break it in, etc. Ensure it's suitable for Tony Stark's #1 fan."

Pepper spins around to glare at him.

She points a finger at him, "You are the employer."

She points at herself, "I, for a reason I can't currently remember, am your employee."

She gestures between them, "End. Of. Relationship."

Tony, to her surprise, merely grins at her and waves her off, "Eh, just you wait, Pepper. I'll wear you down one of these days."

"Mr. Stark," she replies, "I can assure you that you will never ever ever have any say in where I choose to call home. That I can promise you."

* * *

Of course, she's lying to herself.

Home was wherever he was a long time ago.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: He Layed Down on the Wire and Lived**

The third time is Pepper moving in with Tony.

She was holding him close, not willing to get out of bed, not willing to face the rest of world; that world with so many responsibilities and expectations and commitments and worries and…

She just wanted a minute.

He'd fought off aliens, he'd saved the world, and he'd almost died.

And she… she'd missed his call.

She'd get up in a bit. Just not yet. Not when he was alive and breathing and whole and so peaceful, lying there with his eyes closed and her hand in his hair.

Slowly, so slowly, Tony opened his eyes, and looked at her.

He didn't move but just looked at her with such an open, loving, adorable look on his face, and Pepper felt like all she wanted was to stay right where she was… forever.

"Move in with me," he said.

Pepper jumped out of the bed, "What!"

Tony didn't move, and just watched her with a soft grin on his face.

Pepper was shaking her head, "No, no wait. No, this isn't… you recently went through a traumatic experience, and we've probably not been dating long enough and you've never had to share space in your life and there's no way you've thought this through and—"

Tony interrupts, naturally.

"Pepper! Pepper, hey, calm down."

He got up and placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Look, the only thing I'm certain of, right now, is that home is wherever you are. So, move in with me. Please?"

He looks at her, now with a hint of insecurity.

Well, how was she supposed to say no to that?

And then she realized she didn't want to.

"Okay," she shrugged, the corners of her mouth turning up.

Tony looked at her more closely, "Okay?"

Pepper grinned, "Let's move in together."

Then they were laughing, and kissing, and Tony was twirling her around, and, well life was pretty much perfect.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Insanity**

Of course, it wasn't like Pepper never questioned her sanity in her decision to move in with Tony.

Like during the fourth move, because her boyfriend gave a known terrorist their home address.

-line break-

"We're going out of town," she tells him.

"Okay, we've been through this. Nope."

"Yep!"

"The man says no."

"Immediately and indefinitely."

-line break-

She thought the missiles made her point quite well.

As it turns out they end up moving, temporarily, to the Tower while they wait for the Malibu house to be rebuilt.

Apparently, Tony thought it would be some sort of useful, forced exposure therapy to live right under where a portal had opened and let aliens down to New York.

That was a spectacularly awful idea.

But... it did eventually lead to Tony admitting a lot to Pepper. He talked about his struggles with PTSD. This, in turn, led to them finding him help (real professional help that didn't specialize in gamma radiation and turning into an enormous green rage-monster).

She's so proud of how far he's come, and how he'll now sometimes actually ask for help when he needs it.

Sometimes she feels a little in awe of him and how far he's come. There seems to be nothing he can't do when he puts his mind to it.

Then she remembers he gave his home address to a known terrorist.

At least he's her idiot genius.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Break**

The fifth time... was really two times.

Pepper moves out because they're on a break.

Tony says it's no one's fault.

She says it's hers.

It's just the fear, the panic, the inability to function when he's falling out of a portal with aliens or fighting SkyNet aka Ultron or falling again with a big portion of Sokovia that's about to obliterate the planet…

She just can't breathe… she can't function… she can't….

If she can't even take a deep breath, how is she supposed to work with him on fixing a relationship?

It's not an exaggeration to say she's running away.

She tries to force herself into therapy, but whenever she goes, it doesn't seem to do any good, because she can't talk about it… she can't even breath…. she…

Tony may have always been bad about asking for help, but she knows she's a million times worse.

Finally, one night with a bottle of scotch on a couch that reminds her too much of a man with a different bottle of scotch, sitting on a couch in New York in 2001, she breaks.

Friday, that traitor in her home security system, calls Rhodey, who holds her through the worst of the sobs.

-line break-

Once she starts talking, it's like she can't stop.

She goes to therapy, she goes to support groups, and she talks a good deal with Rhodey over cups of coffee.

She doesn't ask about Tony. She doesn't need to ask Rhodey or watch the news to know he's not alright.

She goes on vacation in France, steadily ignoring the news. She just needs a break from Stark Industries, from the way that man is permeating every aspect of her life without actually filling that hole that's been there since she walked out the door.

When Rhodey doesn't answer for the weekly video chat, she gives in and looks up the latest Avengers news.

-line break-

She flies back to the U.S. the same day. All she can hear is the pitter-pat of her heartbeat in her ears, mocking her. What if she's too late… too late…. too late.

She arrives at the medical facility, fighting her way past reporters and various security personnel, threatening to sue every last one of them.

Finally, finally, she throws herself through the door and she stops.

She sees Rhodey, asleep on the bed, and next to the bed, a figure in sunglasses, looking down at the figure on the bed.

With a sob, she's running, but this time toward him.

She practically throws herself on him, crying without restraint.

Stark holds her, and she knows he's crying too.

They still need to figure out this relationship thing, but she's got outside help, and support, and they'll figure it out.

She's home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Home**

After half the world turns to dust, her fiancé somehow makes it back.

Tony, her Tony, is still alive.

-line break-

She brings him back to the lake vacation house. At that point, it was little more than a cabin. What's the point of a vacation house when neither of them ever take a vacation?

It was secluded, and somewhere she had been able to stay, away from the rest of the world. After half of the planet turned to dust, she was still waiting to see if Tony could pull off a final trick, and make it back home to her. Just one more time.

Him walking off that spaceship was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

Sometimes it still leaves her breathless, how grateful she is that he's still here, with her, and they managed to create this beautiful little girl that's in her arms.

Morgan's all the best parts of both of them.

She's holding Morgan close when he gets the call.

He's sitting across the room, officially working on some schematics for the suit, but she knows he's really watching both of them.

He does that sometimes, just drinking them in, assuring himself that they're both real.

It would be creepy if she didn't do exactly the same thing.

It's Natasha.

"Stark, it's me. Everything's a mess, Barton's still M.I.A., Thor won't leave his room, and we need all hands on deck to do everything we can. I need you to just move back into the compound for a little while. We really need your help here."

Natasha doesn't sound at all like herself, but then she's practically taken the state of the modern world on her shoulders in taking over Shield since the Snap.

Pepper's shoulders slump, just a little bit, not enough for anyone to notice if they weren't looking at her as closely as Tony is in that moment.

But she gives him a look, and a wave to go ahead.

She'll be alright. She always is. He needs to go where he's needed. She's accepted this.

She almost misses his reply in her thoughts. She's planning out his accommodations closer to the compound, and how exactly she and Morgan will shuttle between here and there.

"Nat, that's gonna be a no."

Pepper's head snaps back up even as Natasha's answer comes back, half outraged, half understanding.

"No?"

Tony nods his head once, emphatically, "No. I'll help out as much as possible, and come down when I can, but I'm staying here with my family. I'll be sending you some suits to help out in the meanwhile, but the answer is no."

Without waiting to hear Natasha's response, Tony ends the call.

He looks at Pepper, and Pepper looks at him.

He nods again, then looks at the tiny, sleeping, beautiful person in her arms.

"I'm home to stay. I'm right where I need to be."


End file.
